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Post by Ken'ichi on Oct 9, 2004 16:39:36 GMT -5
Everyone is waiting for the next dream The period outdo the assumptions The future will always come but Right now, it's only this instant
As they walk, Koda happily hops around and starts walking straight next to Ken’ichi. He pounces him a bit to set him off his thoughts, which is probably set on his family. Ken’ichi shakes away the thoughts and looks at Koda, who’s grinning at him, Ken’ichi just looks again forward, but with a more happy look.
When I look up at the blue sky The wind blows by Probably singing To walk towards the way I feel
As Koda, Ken’ichi and Kamali walk down a river path, some salmons are seen jumping out of the river. Koda sees this and laughs as he jumps into the water to catch some salmon to eat, Kamali chuckles and decides to join him. But Ken’ichi stays behind to look at his reflection in the water.
Cheer up Like always The beginning is only about to start When it doesn't go right Just laugh But don't forget Don’t give up And something can be seen
A splash from the water hits his face, which he then finds out to be Koda, was has splashed him. Ken’ichi shakes his head dry and looks at cub, which’s giggling and laughing. He gestures Ken’ichi to jump in, he gives a slight grin and decides to jump in.
I adored becoming ten times better Children become adults and Runs light into the world Even that's an old tale now
Koda splashes Ken’ichi again as he swims closer to him, Ken’ichi giggles and splashes Koda again. Soon, both of them are splashing each other. Kamali laughs at their antics, until he decides to splash Koda and get into the fun.
A dream should be Something unreachable Just getting a little near Requires lots of feeling and strength
Koda splashes Kamali while Ken’ichi starts getting the idea and teams up with Koda and sends his assault on Kamali. Kamali laughs and gets overwhelmed by the splashes that he gives up and retreats with a laugh, Koda and Ken’ichi laughs their heads off as they decide to give the teen bear a break.
Such things like courage Will follow along Being engrossed will overflow it Times when it doesn't go right Are the most important When you notice Tomorrow History will change
Ken’ichi and Koda get out of the water and they shake their furs dry. After that, Ken’ichi walks over to a meadow nearby and looks at the sky with a cool brushing his fur as if someone’s hand is stroking his fur, making him feel better. But from behind, Koda playfully tackles him to the ground and starts fumbling around with him. To bears, this method of playing is called wrestling.
Cheer up Like always The beginning is only about to start Such things like courage Will follow along Being engrossed will overflow it Times when it doesn't go right Are the most important When you notice Tomorrow History will change
After a while of wrestling, it ends with Ken’ichi pinning Koda to the ground. Koda laughs as he fails to get Ken’ichi off of him while Ken’ichi breathes heavy to get his strength back, but he also starts laughing. After a good laughter, Ken’ichi gets off of Koda and throws himself to the ground next to him.
“Koda…” Ken’ichi says as he stares at the sky. “Thank you.”<br> “For what?” Koda asks.
“For being there for me…”Ken’ichi replies. “Like a friend…” He then adds.
“Anytime…” Koda then says.
------------------------------------------------- Begin the Try by Shotaro --------------------------------------------------
End of Chapter 7
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Post by Ken'ichi on Jul 23, 2005 17:24:25 GMT -5
Ken’ichi blinks as he stares at what lies in front of him. For the past two days, all he has seen were mountains and mountains and more mountains; it was very surprising for him to see that it all ended so abruptly into what appears to be a wasteland, smoke and geysers rising from the ground and everything looking as reddish as the sunset’s glow.
“We’re almost there!” Koda announces. “All we have to do is cross this place and we’re there!”
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Chapter 8: The trek through the reddish land
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“You’re kidding, right?” Ken’ichi asks. “Cross through this! It looks like it’s ready to crumble into lava!”
Koda giggles. “I doubt that’ll happen. Besides, I’ve been through here hundreds of time, it’s pretty stable alright!”
Ken’ichi looks around the place, just smoke and geysers rising from holes on the ground. To us humans, this place is nothing but a geyser field. But to these bears, it is known as the Valley of Fire…
“What’s the matter?” Kamali asked the black cub. “Scared?”
Ken’ichi flinches and turns around to face Kamali, his eyes glaring at the teen bear. “No!” He cries. “It’s just that I’m concerned about what would happen when we cross the place!”
Kamali chuckles as he pads past Ken’ichi and down into the valley. “Whatever, just don’t take a while to look at every direction. You want to get to the Salmon Run already, right?”
Ken’ichi glares and shakes his head at Kamali, feeling a bit offended and an angered at Kamali’s response to the cub…
‘And yet so familiar…’ Ken’ichi thought to himself…
Koda gently nudges Ken’ichi. “C’mon, Ken’ichi! Let’s go!” With that, Koda sprints off after Kamali into the valley. Ken’ichi though, stays behind for a bit, looking over at the valley, seeing the geyser smokes rising from the ground, giving the place that reddish look of a wasteland. Not much trees are there, just the geyser’s humid smokes and mists, perfect place to get ambushed on…Ken’ichi sighs deeply and pads forward as to not get left behind by Koda and Kamali…
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Ken’ichi looks around at all the Valley of Fire has to offer as “scenery”. At first, he thought it was going to be dangerous, where a simple step on the ground would crack and drop you into a lava pit to meet their doom, but now…It doesn’t seem so bad.
“How are you doing back there, Ken’ichi?” Kamali asks as he pads ahead of him, glancing back at him as he asks.
“Alright, I guess…” Ken’ichi mutters, loud enough for Kamali to hear.
“Don’t worry, we’re almost…” Kamali stops as he looks around, stopping suddenly his trek. “Wait…” He sniffs the air, and then looks in each direction. “Where’s Koda?”
“Wasn’t he ahead of you!” Ken’ichi loudly asks, trying to hide that obvious worried tone in his voice.
“I thought he was behind you!” Kamali comebacks Ken’ichi’s comment.
Ken’ichi shakes his head and looks around. With this fog and the geyser’s smokes, anything could be hidden all around them and they wouldn’t even know it. The smoke also conceals their scent, rendering their sniffing useless. They could try for tracks, but even that could be a tough hunt in this fog. Ken’ichi growls in frustration, this could take a long time. But from behind him, Ken’ichi doesn’t notice a shadow rising from behind a fallen tree, glaring eyes staring behind him as the black cub looks around for any signs of Koda. The figure raises his arms, casting a shadow under the cub.
“Hm?” Ken’ichi looks down, taking note at the extra shadow. He turns around, and…
“Roar!” The figure roared as it plunged right at the cub.
“Aaaah!” Ken’ichi screams, stepping back and tumbling down on his back, exposing his chest and stomach to the figure. The figure, still roaring loudly, jumps and lands over Ken’ichi, pinning the cub to the ground. Now, if this would be a predator, a simple strong bite to the neck would be enough for the kill, but instead, the figure just laughed his head off, holding his head up in victory. The figure was none other than Koda, pulling a prank.
“Ha…Ha…Ha…” Ken’ichi breathed heavily, his chest heaving for air as he recovers from the scare.
“Hahahahahahah!” Kamali laughed as he takes in what just happened. “Woo! He got you good, Ken’ichi!”
Koda just continued laughing. “I scared ya! Hahahah! I thought you weren’t easy to scare!”
Ken’ichi growled furiously and pushed Koda off of him, sending the cub flying back and unto his back. “What in the world were you thinking!” Ken’ichi shouts out in furious anger. “I could’ve killed you! Thinking you were a predator!”
Kamali chuckled. “Nah, you were too scared to even react.”
Ken’ichi glared at Kamali, growling and snarling, that made Kamali shut his muzzle.
“Aw c’mon, Ken’ichi.” Koda begins as he gets back up on all four. “I was only playing. Besides, there aren’t any dangerous animals here, there’s nothing to be worried about.”
Ken’ichi growls. “How would you know! You’re just a cub!”
“Hey! At least I’m older than you!” Koda shouts that.
“You’re still a cub at heart! How could that count as older than me when you’re acting immature!”
“At least I’m not throwing away my cub hood like you!”
“I’m not! I’m just trying to stay alive now that I’m all alone!”
“That’s not a good reason!”
“I’ll give you a good reason!” Ken’ichi lunges and tackles Koda to the ground. Once again, a fight between these two begins. Kamali blinks at the two cub’s attitudes and jumps in. “Hey! Hey!” Kamali calls, separating the two, but not fast enough to prevent Ken’ichi from slashing Koda across the face, really badly. “Fighting each other isn’t going to get us to the Salmon Run, now is it?” Kamali looks at Ken’ichi. “So calm down and stop arguing.” Kamali then looks at Koda, at the slash wound across his face. “For both of your sakes.”
Kamali placed the two cubs down and looks at various directions. He nods and looks at Ken’ichi, “You. Head to that log over there,” He starts as he gestures to a log within sight range, “Look around from on top of it and see if you can see any green trees or mountains that could help us in venturing in here.”
Ken’ichi growls and does what he is told. He slowly turns and pads to the log Kamali pointed out, mumbling and growling to himself. “Can’t believe him…That Koda…” He mumbles. “How can he actually joke around in a way that makes me believe I’m being attacked…Could’ve killed him if I didn’t notice it was him…” He growls and jumps onto the log he was assigned to. “Telling me I threw away my cub hood…Yeah right…Why, I can be much more of a cub than he is! His idea of fun is childish jokes for me. Heh.” Ken’ichi blinks, “If only…”
“Then why not prove it?” Ken’ichi blinked as those words hits him from behind, a challenge…He turns around to face Koda…
“Why don’t I prove it?” Ken’ichi echoes, glancing at the slash wound he inflicted on Koda’s face. “Why should I? Just to prove you wrong?”
“Well…Yeah!” Koda replies. “I know you’re not like this. And I’m sorry about your dad, but you shouldn’t act like this just because of it.”
“You just don’t understand how I feel about it…” Ken’ichi coldly replies, returning his gaze forward to resume his duty on finding anything to point them to the right direction. From behind, Koda sighs, looking up at Ken’ichi. “I do know how you feel…”
“That’s it!” Ken’ichi growls. “You keep saying the same thing over and over! I know you told me you lost your mother, but I lost more than just her! I lost my father and a brother!” Ken’ichi glares at Koda, feeling those memories coming back, triggering that anger inside of him. “There’s a difference there of two! You don’t know how horrible I feel…”
“…Well,” Koda begins. “I can make you feel better…That’s what I’ve been trying to do ever since we’ve started this journey together.” Koda sighs, and then continues. “You see, at first I didn’t know that my mom died. I went to the Salmon Run with Kenai, who I told you about earlier. And when he told me that my mom was dead, I was devastated. I ran away, not knowing what to do, I just wanted to get away from him…”
Ken’ichi slowly turns his head as Koda pauses, hearing the cub sniff as the tears of the past begins to shed once more. “And what made you go back to him?”
“Brotherhood.” Koda replies. “I…Just couldn’t leave him, so I went back after him. And if I didn’t decided when I did, well, I wouldn’t be here going to the Salmon Run to see him again.”
Ken’ichi stares at Koda, seeing the cub in deep thought as he wonders about how his life would’ve been like if he would’ve never went after Kenai. The thought has haunted Koda’s dream rarely at times, but when it does, it would always wake him up with that rancid taste in his mouth and felt like throwing up. Ken’ichi sighs as he stares at that look, “I’m sorry for slashing you…”
Koda giggles, rubbing his cheek where the slash wound resides. “It’s alright, nothing major, right?”
Koda’s giggle and goofy grin manages to raise a slight chuckle from Ken’ichi’s chuckle. Though, still remembering his chore, Ken’ichi glances at the distance, blinking a bit as he spots a mountain range barely through a thick mist from all the geysers. Ken’ichi gives a small grin, and hops down the log to Koda. “I can see some mountains this way, if we can conti-” However, a geyser bursts out from the ground inches to the left from the two cubs, startling them and yelping as they stumble back and away from the geyser that suddenly popped close to them. Another geyser pops close to them, making them both yelp out in surprise again, stumbling back and landing flat on their backs on the ground, both of them breathing a bit heavily after those scares with the geysers.
“Ha…Ha…” Koda breathed heavily. “Heheh, scared us, didn’t it?”
Ken’ichi’s chest was heaving as the cub breathes heavily, but he puts on an ‘oh please’ look and gets up on all four. He looks around the place as Koda does the same, and suddenly another geyser pops up close to them, not enough to scare them, but enough to gasp and jump back a bit. “I think we should go back to Kamali.” Ken’ichi suggests. “The longer I stay here the more I think this place is going to erupt in lava.”
Koda nods, agreeing with Ken’ichi and they both head back, keeping an eye out for any geysers that might pop. After those little scares back there, the last thing they need is to be caught in one of them and erupted high up into the sky.
“Hey Ken’ichi, who about when we get to the Salmon Run we’ll-”
“Sshh!” Ken’ichi cuts Koda as he suddenly stops and places his paw on Koda’s snout, shutting him up.
“Hmmhmmm!” Koda complains, muffled with the paw against his snout.
“Look.” Ken’ichi says as he points to the direction they were going. Koda follows his gaze to spot a predator, a sabertooth tiger! It growls as it prowls around, sniffing the ground and looking around with its beautiful pair of green eyes as if looking for somebody…Looking for food.
“What are we going to do?” Koda whispers to Ken’ichi. “Kamali is over there last time I was there.”
“I don’t know…” Ken’ichi whispers. “Maybe we could go around it, and the-” Suddenly, a paw comes over and presses against Ken’ichi’s muzzle, shutting him up, terrifying the cubs. The paw pulls him toward the paw’s owner, leaving Koda to look at the attacker. And to his relief, it was Kamali.
“Shh!” Kamali whisper to Koda while holding onto a struggling Ken’ichi in his arms. He looks at him and lets him go unto the ground, letting the cub breath in for a bit. “You trying to give me a heart attack!” Ken’ichi quietly yells at Kamali.
“Quiet.” Kamali orders to Ken’ichi. “C’mon, follow me.” Kamali glances over at the sabertooth, making sure that it still hasn’t noticed the bears. Sighing in relief, Kamali quietly pads to the right while keeping an eye on the sabertooth. “Stay close.” Kamali whispers. The cubs follow in closely behind Kamali, taking precautious steps as to not make any noise to attract the tiger. However, a geyser pops up close to Koda, making the young bear gasp loudly and fumble a bit back, accidentally stepping on a twig. Ken’ichi freezes and looks back, seeing Koda nervously grin at his friend as his front right paw is on a dry twig. But things go worse after that, Kamali’s ears perk up as he hears a growl from behind him, something stalking toward them. Kamali looks back and gasps. “Run!”
The three bears commence their run as the sabertooth lunges in for the chase, ever so gracefully through the valley as it chases the bears. Ken’ichi closes his eyes as he runs through smokes from the geysers, trying to stay ahead of the sabertooth. Though, running through smokes with his eyes closed costs him dearly as he blindly runs and collides against a log. “Guah!” He grunts as he strikes the log hard, falling on his back with a daze.
“Huh?” Koda’s ears perked as he heard Ken’ichi’s grunt, he looks back and gasps as he spots a dazed Ken’ichi lying on the ground. “Oh no! Ken’ichi!” Koda cries, buying Kamali’s attention and looks back, him too gasping as he sees the scene.
“Koda, keep running!” Kamali commands, he turns and runs back to Ken’ichi’s aid, leaving behind Koda to run ahead to safety.
While back on Ken’ichi, he groans as he clutches his head, a major headache surging through his brain after such collision. He sits up while rubbing his head, opening one eye to see the log which he ran into, sort of spotting a dent on the log, maybe he’s just seeing things after the collision. He looks back and sees the sabertooth dangerously close…It haunches over and lunges at the cub. Ken’ichi gasps and only screams, knowing he can’t scurry out of the way in time. “Aaaaah!”
Luckily, Kamali reaches the scene just in time to tackle the sabertooth, shoving it away from the defenseless cub. Kamali doesn’t waste any time after that, he picks up Ken’ichi by the mane and takes off, leaving the sabertooth behind. Breathing from his nose and out of his semi-closed mouth, Kamali tries to pick up speed as he listens at the sabertooth scurrying unto its feet and chasing once again. He runs through geyser smokes to geyser smokes, if he was lucky the smokes could help him in losing the sabertooth, but it just slows down the tiger, at least there’s that. Kamali thinks on what to do, but all he can think of is run for his life while carrying Ken’ichi from his mouth. ‘This isn’t going to work,’ Kamali thought as he struggles to keep his distance from the tiger while at the same time hold unto a cub in his mouth, ‘At this rate the tiger will be on me by the time I figure out how to get out of here and lose it.’ As much as Kamali didn’t want to admit, he’s dead. ‘Not again…’
Ken’ichi isn’t pretty much calm either, he just looks around, trying to spot any way to get out of this mess before he becomes prey to the tiger along with Kamali. However, the thought of being reunited with his family again is pretty tempting, but the thought of becoming a meal to a tiger isn’t pretty tempting at all. Suddenly, the running has stopped and Ken’ichi’s vision gets blurred as he’s swung from left to right, barely able to make out anything in the speed of which he is being swung back and forth. “Why’d you stop!” Ken’ichi asks the bear that’s carrying him.
“Just TRYING to keep us alive while finding a way out of here!” Kamali replies rather muffled.
Ken’ichi doesn’t reply or anything, he’s as scared as Kamali is. Though as if right on cue a few seconds after Kamali’s response, Ken’ichi hears some sort of chirp or cry. He looks at where the sound came from and to his surprise, he spots an eagle; a beautiful, majestic bald eagle staring back at him. It cries again and flies off toward a direction, leaving Ken’ichi puzzled of what just happened. It was as if it was trying to tell him something…
‘Oh well,’ Ken’ichi thought. ‘When in doubt, trust your instincts.’
“Kamali!” Ken’ichi calls as he points the direction he saw the eagle fly off to. “Go that way!”
“What for!” Kamali asks.
“Just trust me!”
Kamali nods and heads off to where Ken’ichi pointed to, putting his trust on the cub. The sabertooth however, just kept hot on their trail, refusing to give up on its prey, eager to eat dinner. Ken’ichi spots up ahead a cliff, and hates himself for trusting his instincts on following the eagle, but he feels relieved as he spots Koda on the other side, hoping that the cub has a plan on crossing to the other side.
“Kamali! Ken’ichi!” Koda cries and points to a log to his left. “Over there!”
Kamali nods and lunges to his right, trotting over to the log and begins crossing it. But, running on a log suspended over a 200 foot drop into a river can be hazardous, as Kamali proves it by loosing his footing and almost fell, but he regains his composure and balance, avoiding the drop to certain doom.
“Careful...” Ken’ichi almost silently whispers as he looks down at the small river below.
Kamali slowly starts for the safe ground where Koda is, but at this rate, the tiger would catch them before he makes it to the other side. As boldly as he is, Kamali makes a run for it, loosing his footing and, to avoid falling, jumps off the log in direction to safe ground. Unfortunately, Kamali’s jump comes off short; and noticing this, he rears his head back and throws Ken’ichi unto safe ground. But luck is watching out for Kamali, his jump was good enough for him to at least cling unto the cliff’s edge, he was thankful at least for that. He pulls himself up, panting heavily as his heart pounds hard against his chest after such a scare, he looks over to Ken’ichi to see him alright, Koda too. The three bears suddenly freeze in place as they hear the sabertooth’s growl and snarls, and as they turn around they spot it growling at them from the other side of the log. However, the tiger just turns around and trots off, leaving the three bears safe and free. The three of them sighs in relief, another danger avoided…
“That was a close one…” Kamali says with a sigh as he gets up on all four and continues padding the way to the Salmon Run.
“I’d never want to end up in his belly.” Ken’ichi mentions as he looks back at the Valley of Fire and swat at the air, motioning the place.
“You almost did.” Koda replies with a smirk.
“Yeah well, you would too if you’d run into a log head first.”
“Heheh,” Koda giggled. “He would lick me for taste and spit out in disgust.”
“Apparently.” Ken’ichi remarks as he gets up on all four and follows Kamali.
“Hey!” Koda cries out as he runs to catch up with Ken’ichi. “What’s that suppose to mean!”
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Post by Ken'ichi on May 12, 2008 15:28:39 GMT -5
Heheh, thanks brotherbearkenai. I proudly say Koda's Journey is one of my most finest work and I'm very proud at how it turned out. Next time I write another BB story I'll include Kenai as well ;D
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